Max HeyraudWe catch up with Maclaine ahead of their debut as guest creative designer on an exclusive collaborative t-shirt with Four Four Magazine.
Galway-born, Berlin-based photographer Maclaine relishes the dark, smoggy, often grungy offshoots of club culture, capturing the sweatier, rawer aesthetics of the dancefloor and its surrounding spaces. Maclaine portrays nightlife in an almost primitive state—not documenting people at their most glamorous or their worst, but somewhere in between. It seems they’re capturing fragments of character, whispers of ecstasy, desire, and freedom—the deep-seated underbelly of club culture, and why it’s more than just a place to dance.
Maclaine somehow captures the very essence of why people return to clubs or crave movement in the night. The lineups and the party often feel like an afterthought compared to what really draws people in: each other. It’s the people themselves, unfiltered, with their guards down—raw and unadulterated. As they aptly put it: “At my core, I love photographing people—not exactly as they are, but as an abstracted version of themselves.”
It’s been a while since we last spoke via Four Four Mag. How are you feeling creatively at the moment?
I’m feeling great at the moment. Winter can be a bit challenging when it’s cold and dark and grey, but the daylight is coming back, it’s starting to get warm enough that I can reliably shoot outside again, which always makes me feel better and brings fresh inspiration. I’ve been working on some big projects that I’m almost finished with and can’t wait to share, so feeling confident about that. I have some dreams for the summer that I’m excited to start chasing once I finish with studies, also.
You’ve relocated to Berlin since we last covered you. How has the city’s aesthetic influenced your work?
I would say that this city allows me to do everything I’ve always been trying to do. The location scouting is a lot easier here, I’ve been here for about 9 months and I don’t think I’ve shot in the same place twice yet, something I never could have said for Cork. I think this, coupled with the diversity of personality and expression here, allows me to constantly be creating fresh work, finding new places and trying new things.
Has Berlin’s club culture changed the way you approach or think about photography?
The clubs are a lot darker here, and have a very strict no-flash policy even for approved media, which adds a lot to the club atmosphere but makes photography a LOT harder. Also, you’re not allowed to have anyone’s face in an image without explicit consent, something that’s different from the Irish scene, where it’s more implied. Luckily for me, it doesn’t affect my workflow so much. I like to shoot people in a way that keeps them anonymous anyway, so I don’t have so many faces in my club work (except for artists, of course, who generally are happy to consent to getting their picture taken). This has led me to lean into this approach more, which has been fun for me, trying to represent the motion and feel of a club without having anyone’s face in it, which, for me at least, leads to some really interesting imagery.
Do you find a connection between the music you’re listening to and how it affects your work as opposed to when you’re working in a club environment or with a band that commands a certain aesthetic?
I would say I tailor my approach to the energy of the people I’m working with. Some people are very high energy, which suits my sort of frantic style, while other people/groups are more reserved, which brings its opportunities. A lot of the work I’m doing incorporates motion, so the more dynamic a performer is, the less control of the motion I have (I just take the picture and they move), whereas with someone(s) more static, I have more control (I take the picture and I move), and both are really enjoyable approaches for me.
I’m not sure if the above answers the question, so let me know if you want to come back to this. I would say I have a very symbiotic relationship with the music, much like the crowd does. I would say that I’m at the mercy of the artist, and I try to always mirror the energy of their music and of their persona. Sometimes there can be a disconnect between these, which can be really interesting, and sometimes the person matches the energy of the music perfectly.
What’s your musical diet been like lately?
Lots of hardcore, finally. The team at Gabber Industries Berlin have welcomed me with open arms and become like a family to me, it’s been so incredible to have consistent access to the music I’ve been listening to in my headphones for the last ten years. Aside from that, lots of harp music for reasons I can’t say just yet, but as part of another project I’ve been working on for the last few months. My plan for the summer is more live music, I miss the punks.
You generally lean towards analogue. What draws you to that format?
Funny you say that, it’s actually a very common question I get asked that is not true. I shoot digital, I just shoot clubs on a twelve-year-old entry-level digital camera. I have a much better camera that I use for lots of my portrait work and anything that’s going to be going into print, but there’s something so special about my busted old camera, it’s got such a unique look to it that I’ve never quite been able to replicate or move on from. So I’ll be shooting on that camera until it breaks, and then maybe replacing it also.
What other photographers are influencing you right now?
Joakim Moller, always my favourite photographer working today by far. He’s the one I always come back to when I start feeling too comfortable or complacent, to remind me that I need to keep pushing myself and my art. In addition, Edwiggery is always someone I come back to when I need to see how high the bar can reach. Alex Verhalle, of course, is always in my mind. Actually, my favourite photographer in Ireland right now is this guy Keith from Cork that I’ve never met or spoken to, his work is just jaw-dropping and so consistent, I see new work from him all the time and it inspires me every time I see it. I could list hundreds more, but these are at the front of my mind right now.
How do you stay inspired?
I feel very lucky to say that for me, inspiration is rarely a problem. I keep a list in my journal of all my ideas. When I have a new one, I write it down, and when I finish one, I cross it off, and the list hasn’t been empty in years. My conceptualisation works faster than my completion. However, in moments that I’m feeling less creative and looking for inspiration, I always try to stay as far away from the medium I’m working with in my search for ideas. For example, none of my ideas for images come from other photographs; it’s always either a book I’m reading or a movie I watch or a poem I read or a song I listened to, the list goes on and on and on. I find this to be useful in shaking up my creative process; the translation from feelings in one medium to similar feelings in another medium gets my brain working in a way that (in my opinion, at least) leads to interesting ideas coming out.
What’s your outlook on social media when it comes to presenting your work?
I hate it all. At any given moment, I am trying to spend less time on my phone; the less time I engage with social media, the happier I am, but it’s a huge part of the work I do and the industry. Collaboration posts have been a wonderful addition to my workflow; the other person can post and caption, and I just come along for the ride.
It’s something I’m in a constant tug of war with myself about, I want to be more intentional in the way I use social media but I also want to throw my phone into the river and communicate only via handwritten letter, so I find a sort of compromise with myself in the relationship I have now. Something that helps me is actually feeling connected to my work and the people who enjoy it, and convincing myself (I know this is true, but sometimes hard to feel) that people are excited to see what I’ve been working on and look forward to seeing and hearing about it.
You have a limited run of t-shirts in collaboration with Four Four Magazine. Can you tell us about the inspiration behind that project?
With pleasure. If I were to pick two words to describe my subject matter and artistic interests, I would say people and anonymity. This may seem paradoxical at first, but representing people not exactly as they are, but as an abstracted version of themselves, is my favourite thing to do with photography. At my core, I love photographing people, which is why I wanted to have portraits in the design somewhere, at least, and the top seemed like a good place.
Additionally, illegal raves are where I got my start with photography, so I wouldn’t be representing myself properly if I didn’t include something from those days. I thought to include the duck picture; there are a few pictures I’ve taken that I think are more connected to me, but I decided against it, choosing to highlight other work instead. Finally, in the bottom left corner is a self-portrait, but again, combining these ideas of people and anonymity. If you know me personally, this is very obviously a picture of me, bald head dominating the image and the same rusty earring I’ve had since I was eighteen that I lost recently, but if you don’t this simply becomes another layer to the piece, which is an equally acceptable interpretation for me.
Our collaborative t-shirt with Maclaine will be available to order tomorrow. Keep an eye on our socials for updates.